Dark Sun4E

Dark Sun, Athas and the Tablelands

Session summary

The group, a Human Psion, Dragonborn Warlock, Gnoll Monk and Human Ranger all set out upon the main trade route between Altaruk and Tyr when they came across a small trade caravan being ambushed by an angry and ravenous group of silt runners, those protecting the caravan had fleed and the group set upon the creatures. After a bloody combat the group emerged victorious and engaged the ‘guards’ of the caravan in conversation as they came out of their hiding places beneath the wagons. They informed the group that their trade, which it was revealed were a group of slaves had escaped in the conflict into the desert and hired the group to capture them. They readily agreed and tracked the slaves fresh tracks through the alluvial sand wastes and into a mysterious area of defiled ground which revealed an underground ruin. Soon after this a mysterious stranger approached them, claiming to be from the house of Tsalaxa which oppossed the house of Wavir and tasked the group with killing the slaves instead.

The door to the ruin was opened with a blast of crackling eldritch energy on a bizarre symbol on the side of the ruin. The group ventured fourth and found themselves in a bizarre catacomb. They searched through old tomes, being able to read small excerpts describing strange rituals and experiments gone wrong. They found a mysterious area of darkness which no light could penetrate and attacked them when they attempted to touch it. They also found destroyed remnants of powerful guardians within the ruin. They ventured deeper until they came to a room where they found the slaves they were looking for tied to stone slabs, a huge demon mouth emerged from the wall at the end of the room then with horror they realised the doors had sealed shut and the demon mouth started pumping out noxious gas. As the noxious gas passed over the slaves, as well as the very long dead corpses in the room they rose and attacked the party as they frantically attempted to escape both the zombies and the gas. They found runes on the floor that spelt out the word ‘blood’ in a cryoptogram form and solved it, then splattered the slaves blood upon the door to open it. The Dragonborn however was caught under the gas by this point and infected with the potent necrotic disease.

They ran from that room down a series of tunnels and cooridoors until they arrived at the final room where they were greeted by a man who gave them an ultimatum. They could die or join him and become his acolytes doing his whim. They joined him and to prove their loyalty they were tasked to slaughter the last of the slaves which were in the room. They did so, but not after the man, mad with chaotic power, threw random lightning bolts into the combat knocking out party members and the dead alike.

They left this dark place and emerged into the sun. Tired they journeyed towards Ablath to receive their reward for killing the slave. The Gnoll left them into the wastes ( The player left the group) But the group were joined by a female Thri Kreen Druid who aided them when they came into combat with another group of silt Runners. Within Ablath they met with the head of the Tsalaxa guild, a human named Krall who tasked them with finding the location of a shipment of ore that was coming from the mines in Tyr and going to Altaruk and to retrieve it in some way. He also gave them their reward of 1500 gold which they bartered for.However their greed was too much and 1000 of those gold pieces were fake. Which the Dragonborn would soon find out when attempting to purchase an Erdlu mount from a trader who after accusing him of having fake gold the Dragonborn attempted ot intimidate into silence, which worked so well that the trader called the guards who locked the dragonborn in prison for the night and took away all his gold.

Within the night the condition of the Dragonborn got greatly worse, his speed and intiative being sapped as he slowly turned into an undead from the necrotic disease.

The group also got an animal messenger that night, in the form of a small black raven, that told them of the quest the man they had met in the ruins had sent. He tasked them with going to Tyr and finding a noble by the name of Aram and taking from him a powerful artifact, an obsidian orb. He also told the Dragonborn that a hermit deep within the ringing mountains may have the solution to his current necrotic problem, however the man was rather temperamental.

Seeing that his condition was worsening the group decided to head to the ringing mountains. First however they searched the wastes for the location of an ‘X’ which they found on a map that they took from the Silt Runners who had attacked them originally. What they found was a hidden ruin guarded by a moat of quick sand which they leaped over and broke through the door to enter. They had arrived at a Silt Runner base from where they send their raids and keep their treasure and they cleaned out the entire dungeon, gaining many items in the process. However the Psion did unfortunately get filth fever from a trap of a spike with feces around it and the leader of the Silt Runners escaped after the Dragonborn intimidated them into surrender to which they decided to flee. They also found a Thri Kreen within the dungeon, in the prison of a torturer with multiple iron maidens made from the bones of his victims. The Thri Kreen by the name of T’Chai asked the group to aid him to get back to his tribal village but the group had more pressing matters and he journeyed into the wastes alone.

The group then headed to the ringing mountains. A long gruelling journey which saw them meet a group of travelers who demanded a toll to which the group deciding against diplomacy attempted to fight but failed as they were forced to flee from the might of a powerful preserver wizard. They lost many of their supplies in the night from a mysterious thief and ended up traveling to Tyr to stock up on supplies and tend to their wounds. Unfortunately they had run out of survival days before they got their and the Dragonborn and Psion both caught Sun Sickness. For the Psion the condition would worsen but the Dragonborn did manage to heal it from good healing by the ranger.

They marched onwards then to the ringing mountains, they climbed steep slopes of coarse sand and traversed rocky footpaths until they came to a canyon which they ventured into sensing the presence of magic. As they got deep into the cavern a rumbling sound started steadily building up until they emerged into a large cavernous room with large pillars of rock that would have to be jumped across to reach the exit. It was then that a humongous megapede burst into the room, the cause of the rumbling and giant cave insects startled by this swarmed on the party. The Dragonborn when the megapede was almost upon him decided to fall into the darkness behind the pillars and landed with a splash into the waters deep below falling unconcious. The Ranger grappled down to attempt to rescue him and managed through feats of bravery to find and resucitate him and they both traveled downwards through the tunnels until they reached the outside of the caverns. The Thri Kreen and human psion however did not have as much luck. The Thri Kreen was knocked unconcious but the Psion managed to save her and through the force of his psionic power blast the megapede 50 feet into the air allowing them time to escape. They unfortunately decided to escape straight into the megapedes egg nest, to which baby megapedes emerged hungry and began chasing them. They journeyed back from the tunnel, blocking the area so the megapedes could not go and the psion sent a psychic message to his allies asking them what to do. They replied to jump into the waters and so they both took the plunge dodging the hungry megapede on the way.

They journeyed onwards from the end of the river up mountains and into the area near the forest until they found the source of the magic they were looking for. A man sat, naked and babbling incoherently asking for his ‘sacred nectar’ the group attempted to talk to him but could not get any sane responses. Still, they realised this was likely the man who could help them even though considering he was sitting naked in a pile of his own excrement eating beetles raw off the floor he didn’t seem the brightest spark, the magic coming off him was certainly a sign of power and perhaps intelligence. So the group journeyed up into the forests, to find the halfling swhich the man said had his nectar. They indeed found the halflings even before they could enter the forest, the halflings were suspicious of the group but after finding out they had come for the ‘magic man’ allowed them to journey with them backt o their village. However they blind folded them. The Psion however managed to create an alternate version of himself to see anyway and noted that the village itself was protected by a giant invisible magical barrier that shrouded it to look like the rest of the forest and prevented any intruders from entering.

They arrived at the village and talked to the tribal chief Ostram who told them that the sacred nectar for the ritual they do every festival season had been stolen and that they must find out who stole it and where it is and retrieve it and then they’d be able to get the thanks of the tribe and the help of the magic man.

A blog for your campaign

While the wiki is great for organizing your campaign world, it’s not the best way to chronicle your adventures. For that purpose, you need a blog!

The Adventure Log will allow you to chronologically order the happenings of your campaign. It serves as the record of what has passed. After each gaming session, come to the Adventure Log and write up what happened. In time, it will grow into a great story!

Best of all, each Adventure Log post is also a wiki page! You can link back and forth with your wiki, characters, and so forth as you wish.

One final tip: Before you jump in and try to write up the entire history for your campaign, take a deep breath. Rather than spending days writing and getting exhausted, I would suggest writing a quick “Story So Far” with only a summary. Then, get back to gaming! Grow your Adventure Log over time, rather than all at once.